Recent advances in asymmetric organocatalytic 1,4-conjugate additions

Recent progress in the field of asymmetric organocatalytic 1,4-conjugate addition reactions, regarded as belonging among the more synthetically important carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions, is described. The focus is on some recent advances in the following selected reactions: additions of various nucleophiles to alpha,beta-unsaturated cyclic and acyclic enals, enones, vinyl sulfones and nitro olefins, addition of malonates and/or ketones to acyclic enones, or of aldehydes and ketones to vinyl ketones and nitro olefins, together with some multicomponent domino reactions. ((c) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2007).